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Marijuana news: Pot may ease MS symptoms, review finds

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A woman wears socks with drawings of cannabis leaf at a legalization of marijuana march last weekend in Sao Paulo, Brazil. Brazilian police say about 2,000 people have gathered in downtown Sao Paulo in a demonstration demanding the legalization of the production and sale of marijuana in Latin America's largest country.
(AP Photo/Andre Penner)

Marijuana may help people with multiple sclerosis, but evidence that it helps those with other neurological disorders is insufficient, a new review of medical research concluded.

The American Academy of Neurology on Monday released its survey of 32 studies that looked at medical marijuana's efficacy in treating MS, Parkinson's, epilepsy and other neurological diseases, The Philadelphia Inquirer reports.

Researchers found that cannabis could be useful in treating MS, but not the side effects from the drug commonly given to people with Parkinson's, reports staff writer Stacey Burling.

"What we're really hoping is, a lot more studies will come from this," Barbara Koppel, chief of neurology at New York Medical College and one of the review authors, said at a news conference. The journal Neurology will publish the study Tuesday.

"There's a place for it," she said of medical marijuana, "and more work will need to be done to find out where its indications will be."

FiveThirtyEight digs deep into marijuana pricing in Colorado to see how medical vs. recreational pot compares. Using data from Weedmaps, Walt Hickey analyzed menus and prices of cannabis sold in Colorado's medical and recreational shops. His conclusion: Medical marijuana is cheaper.

Hickey explains:

There are a number of reasons for this, but the primary ones are an unexpected decrease in supply in these first few months after recreational marijuana legalization and a series of excise and sales taxes levied by the state of Colorado and the City and County of Denver.

While it’s still too early to make generalizations about the success of the recreational regime in Colorado, some interesting trends emerged from my analysis of the marijuana pricing curve.

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